Bad news: cloud cover over most of northern USA will significantly decrease odds of seeing it :(<p>I was planning on driving out from Chicago to WI or IN. :(
I grew up in Carson City, NV, which is between San Francisco and Denver in latitude.<p>When the Russians decommissioned Mir, there was this strange red splotch in the sky. People came out of their houses to speculate on what it could be. (A bunch of people thought it was related to the satellite - some people thought it got nuked.) Turned out to be an aurora borealis. It was only visible for a couple hours, so by the time my dad got his camera out and drove into the mountains, it had faded.<p>I grew up thinking auroras were these neat things reserved for Scandinavians and Alaskans - never thought I'd see one in the lower 48.<p>I bet they're more impressive up north, though.
According to the Ovation report, the Borealis is well north of the US / Canada border: <a href="http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GarySzatkowski/status/323252624713469952/photo/1" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/GarySzatkowski/status/323252624713469952...</a>
If you've never seen the it before, it's worth going outside to check it out if you are in the right areas. Saw it when I was younger in Missouri, pretty spectacular!